which was streamed in November

As I write this, people across the country will be recovering from last night's Halloween scandals, and perhaps even experiencing a candy-induced comedown.

Luckily, this month's streaming picks include a serial killer movie that will help keep the spooky season going a little longer. There's also Chimp Crazy, a daring docuseries that's horrifying in its own way, as well as some slick new TV shows set in the idyllic landscape of the outback.

Whether you're looking for funny, scary or frivolous, there's plenty to kick your feet on.

Territory

Netflix

Territory is set in the Northern Territory, on the world's largest cattle station. The once great dynasty of the owners, the Lawson family, is called into question when their heir to the throne dies. The Top Ends' most powerful players, billionaire miners, rival cattle barons, desert gangsters and native elders immediately begin circling.

Filmed in beautiful remote locations, the show looks like the most ambitious and sophisticated Tourism Australia advert you've ever seen. The wildlife! The panoramic drone shots! The hat budget! The rest of the world might start thinking that we ride kangaroos to work, and assume that we all have our own helicopters. While the male characters are brilliant sources of humor and violence, it's the ladies in Territory who bring the heart.

Territory does an excellent job of creating a simmering tension between the traditional owners of the land and the families and companies who have taken possession of it, but these storylines move at a frustratingly slow pace. Perhaps this is to cater to a global audience, which will likely lack the context that local viewers have. And perhaps the intended takeaway for Australian viewers is the continued subordination and struggle of the original landowners.

Territory is an ambitious and attractive series. It was amazing to see so many resources put into a new concept, filmed and set in a part of Australia that rarely gets the attention it deserves.

Alexa Scarlet

Read more: Netflix's Territory is a succession-style drama full of family rivalry and betrayal, set in Australia's outback

Woman of the Hour

Netflix

Anna Kendrick's directorial debut, Woman of the Hour, offers a glimpse into the gruesome crimes of serial killers Rodney Alcala. Branded with the nickname the Dating Game Killer after his appearance on a popular 1970s dating game show, Alcala is believed to have been responsible for the rape and murder of up to 130 men, women and children.

Woman of the Hour is particularly interested in the way in which women in the 1970s were placed under a critical social gaze that expected them to be caring and compliant, resulting in their extreme psychological and physical vulnerability.

Alcala's camera and the cameras of The Dating Game frame and blind the women exposed to their gaze, highlighting social and gendered conventions and limitations.

Kendrick is convincing as a woman who is initially proud and confident in her intelligence, before realizing that even she can become entangled in Alcala's web. Daniel Zovatto, as Alcala, is dangerously captivating in the predatory display of his simultaneous charisma and sadism.

Woman of the Hour departs from Kendrick's past, lighter work; I'm looking forward to seeing where she turns her hand.

Jessica Gildersleeve

Rivals

Disney+

A bonkbuster needs three important things. It has to be 1) full of sex (the bonking), 2) extremely popular (the -buster) and 3) wildly over-the-top (in other words, crazy). Rivals, the new Disney+ adaptation of Dame Jilly Cooper's 1988 novel of the same name, has the 1 and 3 of spades. And if askedreception is something to pass, it's well on its way to 2.

The show revels in the excesses and spectacle of the 1980s. It opens with Rupert Campbell-Black (Alex Hassell) having sex with a journalist in the bathroom of a Concorde, a scene that, ahem, climaxes when the plane breaks the sound barrier. The show continues largely in the same vein for its eight episodes.

At first glance, the plot seems relatively dry. The titular rivals are two production companies competing for a local television franchise. Corinium is led by villain Tony Baddingham (David Tennant), while Venturer is run by Rupert and Declan Ohara (Aidan Turner). Caught between them is ruthlessly ambitious producer Cameron Cook (Nafessa Williams), who both parties desperately want to sleep with (figuratively and literally).

However, the plot is surrounded by so much frothy fun, melodrama and naked tennis that there are plenty of other things to get invested in. Rivals doesn't take itself too seriously, but it also has a lot of heart. Pay particular attention to the romance between Freddie Jones (Danny Dyer) and Lizzie Vereker (Katherine Parkinson), a real highlight.

Jodi McAlister

Thou shalt not steal

Stan

Thou Shalt Not Steal follows Aboriginal teenager Robyn (the immensely talented Sherry-Lee Watson). She escapes from juvenile detention and embarks on a challenging road trip from Alice Springs to Adelaide to discover a long-kept family secret.

Each episode begins with an ironic lesson from Robyn's past. These range from the eponymous You Won't Steal to You'll Never Go to Coober Pedy.

This deadpan humor cleverly introduces important issues. These include the disproportionate rates of incarceration of Indigenous youth, alcoholism, abuse, toxic masculinity, bullying, and weaponized religion.

Throughout the first six of its eight short episodes, Thou Shalt Not Steal maintains a balance between sharp comedy and dangerous road trip. The final episodes enjoy a series of over-the-top scenarios that nonetheless tie up loose ends in an enjoyable way. Indeed, the shift toward outright absurdity reveals a gentler message from the show: about finding a chosen family.

It's a slick, well-crafted series with great attention to detail. The beautiful landscapes contrast with the damp, dingy spaces occupied by the antagonists and the soundtrack is its own treasure trove. Thou Shalt Not Steal is definitely a fun ride.

Kelly McWilliam

Read more: Thou Shalt Not Steal: new Stan series is a perversely funny road trip through Central Australia

Fish season 3

ABC iView

Nothing is certain except death, taxes and the hilarious Fisk, especially in relation to the first two. In season three, things change at small wills and probate firm Gruber & Fisk. The signature brown suit remains, but as a newly appointed partner, our prickly little lawyer friend Helen Tudor-Fisk (Kitty Flanagan) must tackle more responsibility, pressure and general idiocy than ever before.

At the office, Roz (Julia Zemiro) kicks off her brokerage business, with mixed success and ideas for an impending hit album. Ray (Marty Sheargold) is loudly enamored with his fashion psychologist Melissa (Justine Clarke), much to everyone's chagrin. And probate clerk George (Aaron Chen) is caught in the crossfire of his usual front desk role, while his role as webmaster faces competition.

The quiet hysteria of office life grows into madness as threats are made and co-working space politics arise. There are also plenty of laughs to be found in Fisk's dealings with pointless nepo hires, her elderly ex-judge father's forthcoming memoir, suspicious will changes scrawled in biro, and a devious grammer (grandma con artist).

Fisk's star-studded third season does not disappoint. It features a range of Australian comedy talent, including Sam Campbell, Claudia Karvan, Tom Ballard and Rhys Nicholson, to name a few. Since previous seasons were given the approving title of accurate by the law experts, I might consider you contemptuous if you didn't pay attention to it.

Marina Deller

Chimpanzee crazy

BINGE

Chimpanzees scare me. They are our closest genetic species; one moment they are sweet, the next moment they are angry and violent. Likewise, Chimp Crazy gave me the creeps. In this docuseries, successful Tiger King director Eric Goode focuses on another animal obsession: Tonia Haddix.

Haddix becomes entangled with great apes while volunteering at a for-profit facility run by Connie Casey. This is where Haddix bonds with a sea of ​​humanity Tonka, who grew up appearing in Hollywood films before disappearing from view.

However, Goode cannot come close to Haddix and Tonka: all bridges to the larger animal community have been destroyed thanks to the way things ended with Joe Exotic. So Goode employs former circus clown Dwayne Cunningham as proxy director.

While the issue of deforestation isn't worth addressing, Chimp Crazy subtly comments on the stratification of society in North America and a lack of love. All the action takes place in the Deep South, with white trash under the microscope.

Goode explores an alternative angle with representatives from PETA (People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals), who are on the hunt for Haddix teeth and manicured nails. Their opinion is that chimpanzees do not need us and deserve humane conditions.

Ultimately, the docuseries establishes another icon of the streaming era: Haddix is ​​plastic, unapologetic, flawed, and reminiscent of a mother about to be separated from her offspring. Coincidentally, her child is a 32-year-old chimpanzee.

Phoebe Hart

The office

Prime

The new Australian remake of The Office closely mirrors the American version: a romantic storyline, tensions between office and warehouse, an old-fashioned boss who loves, craves and needs camaraderie, and a staff for whom work life comes second to what they would rather be. doing.

Hannah Howard (Felicity Ward) is the dedicated office manager who loves her job too much and runs an underperforming, dysfunctional workplace with disinterested staff. Like David Brent and Michael Scott before her, Hannah is optimistic, naive, ruthless, and poor at personnel management. She forces pajama days and bus trips on her employees, who are clearly unwilling but never actively rebel. There's plenty of comedy in the awkwardness and small moments.

The first Australian season of The Office may not have been anything new, but I kept watching. It felt safe and even comforting. Perhaps going to someone else's family for Christmas lunch can feel similarly familiar: recognizable food, decorations, familiar characters, but with the excitement that maybe something different will happen this time.

This remake knows what it is. It was created to satisfy an audience that wants to be in a world that reflects their own experiences, but takes it just a little too far. The intention is not to break the mold, but to bring the mold up to date and give it an Australian voice for the world to hear.

Philippa Burne

Read more: Ten years after the US version ended, Australia is making a remake of The Office. It's not new, but it's funny